The invention relates to removable devices for preventing caps with visors from becoming badly wrinked as they dry after being laundered.
By way of background, it is noted that inexpensive cloth caps of the type having a crown (which is often partially ventilated) and a visor which extends outward from the wearer's forehead are commonly worn by workers in various industries. These caps are very inexpensive and are so popular that some business concerns give such caps away to their customers for good will; often, the business concern has its name or trademark imprinted on the cap. Employees of such customers appreciatively receive these caps and wear them, but usually get them quite dirty in a short time. Such caps are, of course, quite unattractive when they become soiled by grease, dirt and other adherent substances which seem to inevitably get deposited thereon. Although these caps usually are made of cloth material which can be laundered, they usually include sewn-in stiffeners or stays which maintain the shape of the visor, and sometimes also include stays which maintain the shape of the crown portions of the caps. These stays are often made of a cardboard-like material which wrinkles badly as it drys after the cap is laundered, causing the bill of the cap (and sometimes also the crown) to become badly misshaped. Consequently, workers rarely launder such caps, and usually simply wear them until they become excessively filthy and unattractive, especially if it is inconvenient to obtain a replacement cap. Although construction workers and others who wear such caps and get them dirty are usually not overly concerned that their working apparel be spotless, nevertheless, they ordinarily like to have all items of their clothing, including their caps, capable of being laundered. The necessarily low cost which must be maintained to ensure widespread distribution and use of such caps apparently has resulted in a small market of more expensive caps with stays that are removable during laundering, such as those shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,681,451, 2,718,010, and U.S. Pat. No. 3,133,289, or stiffeners which can withstand cleaning without being wrinkled during either the cleaning operation or the drying operation, such as the ones disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,704,847. Although numerous drying racks and devices that stretch various articles of clothing to cause them to dry without wrinkling are known, no such drying devices have ever been proposed for caps of the kind described above. Apparently, the industry has failed to meet the need for such a device because no one has ever conceived of a sufficiently simple and workable structure that is capable of causing cheap caps of the type described to dry in their proper shape and yet is sufficiently low in cost to be economical. When it is considered that there are many millions of such caps used every day, it becomes clear that there is an unmet need for a practical, inexpensive means for laundering such caps and causing them to maintain their proper shape while being dried, since the market for such caps has determined that the cost of making them with non-wrinkling stays and inserts is too high.
Accordingly, it is an object of the invention to provide a means of laundering caps of the type having inserts and/or stays which wrinkle badly during drying after being laundered.
It is another object of the invention to avoid the need for wearing such caps when they become excessively soiled or for discarding them before they are worn out.